You may violate the terms of church membership if you belong to the Mafia, but if your crime is disorganized, say as disordered as the scripts for Breaking Bad were, hey, man, there’s hope:
You cannot call yourself a true believer if you participate in organized crime, Pope Francis told members of the Cassano all’Jonio diocese in Italy on Saturday.
No one, the Pope said Feb. 21, can “call themselves Christians and violate the dignity of the person; those who belong to the Christian community cannot program or carry out acts of violence against others and against the environment.”
“Jesus never invited demons to lunch, no he chased them away, because they are evil,” he said, emphasizing that Christ and evil are incompatible.
Old Life 
Haters gon’ hate.
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Paging Curt Che: How about organized finance?
Paging the Dutch: How about organized government religion?
Paging Green Catholics: How about organized carbon emission?
I could go on.
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I did see Tony Soprano whack a lot of people, but I have to admit I never did see him litter.
The environment?
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When Francis talks about organized crime is he talking about the Mafia or the Catholic Church?
Hard to keep these things straight…
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“’External gestures of religiosity are not enough to credit as believers those who with the malice and arrogance typical of criminals, make lawlessness their lifestyle,’ he said, calling those affiliated with criminal organizations to a conversion of heart.”
http://literatecomments.com/2015/02/09/guess-whos-opposed-to-extending-the-statute-of-limitations-on-sexual-abuse-in-iowa/
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“While celebrating Mass during his one-day trip to the region of Calabria, Pope Francis had spoken harsh words against the local mafia, known as the ‘Ndrangheta, calling them “adorers of evil” and saying that all who have chosen the “evil road, such as the mobsters, (are) not in communion with God. They are ‘excommunicated.’”
Sounds like Curt. Excommunicating groups as opposed to individuals.
Wouldn’t you need some individual names and some kind of trial to excommunicate someone?
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What about those who work for them but have no part of the criminal element. They are cashiers at the grocery store, they are the secretary for a waste management company, they do litigation accounting support on their behalf, so to speak…
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Kent,
Yeah, what about poor Spider? (Profanity warning):
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What about millions upon millions of Euros worth of Vatican-owned real estate throughout Italy that is used for immoral purposes? I’ve heard people on the street in Rome speak bitterly about this. Anathematize thyself, Frank.
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Maybe the most-deserved Best Supporting Actor Oscar ever. That movie is incredible:
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“Dances With Wolves” cleaning “Goodfellas” clock is maybe the biggest joke in Oscars history.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/63rd_Academy_Awards
Who watches “Dances With Wolves” anymore? All I remember about it is Kevin Costner shacking up with some white woman in a teepee.
Meanwhile “Goodfellas” plays on cable on a seemingly endless loop.
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Al Capone was a “good Catholic” till the end — he got to go to confession before he died, had last rites, a Catholic funeral, and was buried in a consecrated Catholic cemetery.
http://www.myalcaponemuseum.com/id100.htm
Too bad the old popes could not consult the newer popes.
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Capone makes several appearances, some lengthy, in “Boardwalk Empire”. I’m only through Season 4 so I’m not sure how much he is featured in Season 5.
Odd that the (Catholic) Sicilian mobsters were often feuding with the (Catholic) Irish mobsters.
One would think the superior paradigm would have enabled them to get along.
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I could not get into “Boardwalk Empire”. I just don’t like Steve Buscemi.
The only REAL advantage is that you get to be under the pope. After that, you can fight like the dickens … that’s what confession is for!
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Kent,
That’s why there’s distinctions noted in cooperation with evil – formal/material, immediate/mediate, remote/proximate – http://ncbcenter.org/document.doc?id=139
these distinctions might also then coupled with the principle of double effect in evaluating an act.
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Robert Reymond, Perspectives on Israel and the Church, 4 views, p 65–“Pious X!! displayed a callous and near criminal indifference to the plight of Europe’s Jews, and at worst, was actually complicit in the Holocaust.”
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Cletus!
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Thanks, Cletus.
Whoa there…
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John,
That show has gotten better as it’s gone along. I just finished Season 4 and it was solid.
How can you not like Buscemi, especially in that role?
How can anyone not like Donnie Kerabatsos? or Carl Showalter? or Tony Blundetto?
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I liked the final half season for Boardwalk. A lot didn’t.
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Erik, the token protestant in BE played Galen in Mud, that was an enjoyable movie and streamed free on Netflix. You’re the best, bro!
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Tony Blundetto was one in a long line of idiots that Tony Soprano was forced to deal with.
You didn’t want to be dealt with by Tony Soprano.
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Kent,
Nelson Van Alden’s trajectory is pretty typical for those who start out as Baptist Fundamentalists…
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Andrew,
Michael Shannon.
As I just referred to, he’s one of the most interesting characters in the show. You never know where he’s headed next.
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BE was worth the trip, free from the library and all.
Glad the wire is streaming all 5 seasons free for amazon prime members. I feel like after finishing The Wire, it’s going to be all down hill from there..sigh…
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Kent, I was surpised too when I found out what kind of hat Cletus wears.
Whoa, indeed.
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Sons of Anarchy was a bit rough, but it was a very entertaining seven seasons. Same with The Shield.
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John,
You might be more of a man’s man than me.
Probably watched “Gunsmoke” and “Bonanza” as a wee lad.
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We thought Birdman wsa worth watching, we had that streaming last night from our tube to our brains while others were watching the Oscars. The Oscars, by contrast, that was really hard to watch, what little of it we caught last night.
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Erik, no spoilers from me about Nelson or the rest.
Boardwalk picked up dramatically from the slow start around the time of the hotel bombing.
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We have nocable at the moment and that means antenna TV. We only get ABC in the kitchen and sitting at the kitchen table watching the Oscars wasn’t working for me. Went to bed and watched a Netflix movie on my phone.
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My daughters looked away when NPH showed up in his skivvies. You didn’t miss much, I’m surprised they didn’t stream the oscars online..ratings were low.
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Speaking of tidywhities, there’s indeed hope for Walter White, yo.
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I’m sorry — my comment way up at the top (2nd) was meant to read “organized government SCHOOLS” since the Dutch are so phobiated about them.
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Francis, the gift who keeps on giving.
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Continuing to make my way through “The Trip to Italy”. It’s as good as “The Trip”. Next I need to check out the TV series.
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Actually, I think the TV series is just the movies broken up.
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Erik, I’ll ask my Library to hold A Trip to Italy since it would otherwise cost me $3.99 to amazon, and I’m a man on a budget. Looks good, thanks for the info. I’m #58 in line in the library queue, when the library e-mail comes in in about 6 months that this is ready, I’ll remember you, and maybe, I’ll even go get the flick!
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“to Italy” wasn’t nearly as charming imo. The dialogue felt flat and Steve’s character development was unnecessarily at the expense of Rob’s, who in this movie would leave John Piper ranting about free will and personal responsibility.
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Mike,
Steve definitely does play the straight man, which is saying something.
I liked the Italian scenery more.
I hope they keep the series going.
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Andrew,
You’re not a Netflix guy? It can be streamed there.
The tough decision these days is Netflix or Amazon Prime (for those whose hedonism is not great enough to allow them to pay for both).
There are some things I would like to see on Amazon, including “Bosch”.
The front lines of the war they are fighting is over who has better original programming.
And then HBO comes along and offers a streaming service, too.
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Erik,
I have to get through The Wire first, as I’m sure you’ll understand. Almost at the end of Season 1. If after that Trip is still streaming, yeah, I’ll go for it. Thanks for the tip, I’ll probably skip the one Michael told me to watch on the other thread, it seemed a little too spooky, even for me..
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